Kobo Vox Delayed until 7 November

Kobo sent out an email today announcing that they were out of Vox tablets, and that my ship date was going to be delayed. Now, this has to be a coincidence but it is still deliciously amusing. Kobo won't ship the Vox until 7 November, the same day as the expected launch of the new NookColor.

Update: Some buyers have already gotten a shipping notice.

The email promised a 25% discount off of an ebook from this list (you need this code: vox25oct28).

Update: If you don't want to wait for Kobo, you can find the Kobo Vox in stock at Fry's.

Kobo claim that they oversold their new 7" Android tablet, but frankly I do not believe them. I think they suffered a shipping snafu and that they are not telling us the complete truth.

Here's the thing. I placed my order within half an hour of the announcement on Twitter. If the Kobo Vox were so oversold that Kobo cannot fill orders placed that early then their website must have been incredibly busy, with probably tens of thousands of new customers using it at that one moment. Why didn't I see any sign that it was straining under the load? Their website didn't even run slow, much less crash.

No, it's much more likely that the units they expected to have in their warehouse last week are actually stuck somewhere in shipping.

There's a better chance that Kobo decided to delay shipment because they wanted to push out a new firmware update to the delayed units. Yes, the Vox is already in some retail stores, so that does sound odd. But I've been reading some early reports on MobileRead and they're not very positive about the Vox (here, here, here).

Of course, there's also the possibility that Kobo website can't prioritize the orders based on the time they were placed; trust me, the site is not well designed.

I had a rather interesting experience last week when I tried to cancel my order. After balancing my checkbook on Sunday night I realized that i couldn't afford the Vox at the moment. I went to the Kobo website and much to my surprise I was unable to cancel the order; it had to be done by email.

Yes, the Kobo website is so poorly designed that it lacks a WebCommerce 101 feature. Oh, and just to add an extra level of humor to the situation, my order was cancelled yesterday and I still got the delayed shipment email today. Funny, no?

In any case, my coverage of the Kobo Vox ix going to be somewhat limited. I cannot afford to get one right now and I don't think there's much of a chance Kobo that will lend me one.

I had no trouble buying one on Oct 28 here in Toronto at a major big box electronic retailer. There were people across the country able to purchase, based on MobileRead postings. This post is full of speculation (par for the course).

Mid-week, Kobo changed the launch date to Nov 2 (was Oct 28) for Indigo which is more likely to do with higher than expected demand. From what I have heard, those who pre-ordered were being shipped on schedule. If Kobo is now talking about Nov 7 for some markets, that is typical of managing demand: you take care of existing orders first. Also, the east coast US storm has been causing some chaos which may be delaying distribution.

Finally, Kobo doesn’t need to delay shipment to push out new firmware in retail units: Kobo Vox gets the most current firmware the first time you turn it on (the same is true with Kobo Touch).

First impressions using the device is the screen is gorgeous; the battery life decent at 7 hours; the Android reading app (which is new for me to try out) has some nice new features not on the Touch (yet); the response is rapid; installing Opera as a browser shows how slick the hardware is; the content syncs nicely with other Kobos on the same account; and the open Android 2.3 OS means you can tweak the ereader to become a fullfledged entry level tablet without rooting the device. It’s tremendous value for $199 — there is nothing else close in Canada.

On Oct. 30 I received the email saying “Due to overwhelming demand, we are sorry to inform you that your order of the Kobo Vox™ eReader will not ship until November 7, 2011.” and with the offered discount coupon.

Today, I got an an email with an invoice for the order. So, does that mean my order shipped after all? (The order status is “processing.”) Or, are they charging me now even though it has not shipped? Or, is it just a meaningless or prescheduled email that I should ignore?

I got my VOX yesterday and there is no firmware on it….just the android operating system. I can’t get any apps….I called customer service and they were a complete bunch of idiots…asking me to take pictures of the screens and email them to [email protected]. I am VERY frustrated and think there is a huge mess out there with these things. I will have to manually update the firmware I suppose, but have no idea where or how to do it.